The Progressive Alliance of the Socialists & Democrats in the European Parliament is hosting the Global Progressive Forum (GPF) together with other progressive partners from 17 to 19 November 2021. The event is an online three-day series of panels where global problems will be discussed. Among the topics under the spotlight during the three days are the future of the post-Covid world; the persistent problem of inequality and access to food, education and healthcare; the challenges of migration throughout the world; the need for sustainable growth; climate change; foreign interference in the democratic process; discrimination and violence against LGBTI people; and the uncertainty we all face around the globe as we look to the future.

The list of speakers who will debate these issues includes the president of the S&D Group in the European Parliament, Iratxe García Pérez; S&D vice-president Pedro Marques; other S&D members of the European Parliament; former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright; the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, Josep Borell; former Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta; the 35th President of Brazil, Luiz Ignácio Lula da Silva; the Serie A football player and activist Morten Thorsby; writer and activist Professor Raj Patel; the leader-in-exile of the student protests in Hong Kong, Nathan Law; LGBTI activist and former Brazilian Big Brother winner Jean Wyllys; and the former Afghan minister Syed Saadat, who is now a refugee in Germany and works as a driver for a delivery company.

Iratxe García Pérez, president of the S&D Group in the European Parliament, said:

“Since the last time the S&D Group invited global progressive voices to Brussels in 2009, the world has changed a lot. Poverty and inequalities are growing, as well as extremism and populism. We see new conflicts and a weaker international order, not to mention unprecedented global threats such as the Covid pandemic or rising global temperatures. It is time for progressive forces to come together and make sure we have a common answer, based on freedom, solidarity, equality and sustainability. People must come before money and business interests. This is why through the GPF we will work on a common agenda for a just ecological and digital transition that puts people first, stronger multilateral institutions, gender equality and international trade that benefits human development.”

Andreas Schieder, S&D Member of the European Parliament from Austria and co-chair of the Global Progressive Forum, said:

“The GPF has a message for the world. While the health crisis amplifies other social crises, we need to take steps beyond the status quo to a better and fairer society. As the name shows, the GPF has a global character because we as Progressives believe in multilateralism as the only viable approach to current global problems and conflicts. We are going to talk about courage, tolerance, the fight for human rights, democracy and equality, tax justice, economic and societal recovery after the Covid pandemic, climate change and the fight against it, with an impressive participant list. There is too much injustice in the world and we have to address it globally. Europe and the European Progressives are leading the debate on all of this and it is an honour for me to co-chair it.”

You can watch the debates live on the S&D Group website: https://www.socialistsanddemocrats.eu, as well as on the website of the Global Progressive Forum, where you can also find the full programme of the three-day event: https://www.globalprogressiveforum.org.